Hourou Musuko - Reviews

Alt title: Wandering Son

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jiropracter's avatar
Jan 15, 2011

STORY: So far the story is confusing and hard to follow. They introduce characters and then say, " Oh yeah, this character is related to this one with a long backstory that we won't introduce." I also dislike the flow of events. It seems too sudden.

CHARACTERS: As stated above the characters are somehow inexplicable related. The personalities of each character are unoriginal and boring. Also they are all oddly accepting of the main characters crossdressing.

ANIMATION: I just really, really, really dislke the way this is drawn. It looks like paper cutouts with shiny hair to me.

OVERALL: The story is confusing and sudden, all the characters are boring and the people in this anime look like weird people with shiny hair. To be honest, watch this if you like more serious animes that adress social problems in real life; but don't watch it if you like funny anime with straightforward plotl-ines.

P.S. I honestly see no future for this anime in today's society... Meaning I can't see it reaching 26 episodes or releasing a second season.

(Review for Hourou Musuko.)

3/10 story
2/10 animation
?/10 sound
2/10 characters
2.5/10 overall
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Lyxsiv's avatar
Oct 1, 2016

About Hourou Musuko...hope I am not a spoiler on this one...an anime approaching a different subject in my opinion which is being trangender, bullying and the hardships of schoolife.

It had a good way to start up but with time it honestly dissapointed me.

I didn't hate it but I am not an enthusiast about it either.

6/10 story
9/10 animation
9/10 sound
6/10 characters
6/10 overall
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mdchan's avatar
Sep 10, 2022

A peculiar yet interesting anime with a very slow pace, yet even in 11 episodes manages to deal with body/gender dysphoria very well...once you can tell who is who that is.  If LGBTQ+ themes are not your cup of tea, then you should probably take a pass on this.  If you do enjoy that sort of thing, or perhaps are a little curious yourself, this is a fairly good anime to watch.

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Story

There are multiple stories going on due to each character having their own "secrets" to deal with.  Two of the characters, Shuichi and Yoshino, constantly deal with gender dysphoria; Shuichi wishing to be a girl, and Yoshino wishing to be a boy.

At the same time, their entire group of friends had a falling out due to a broken love triangle at the end of fifth grade (Shuichi confessed to Yoshino but was turned down, then another of their friends, Saori, confessed to Shuichi and was turned down).  Thus, much of the conflict comes from Saori still being in love with Shuichi even though he has moved on...which also causes her to hate Yoshino.

It also deals with a very realistic backlash from society (or in this case, society as represented by middle school students) to those seen as "weird".

The "story" is mostly about the struggles Shuichi and Yashino face as wishing they were the opposite gender (transsexual thoughts).  This causes a very slow pace of the anime even though it spans the course of a full year within those 11 episodes (from their first year in middle school into the second).  It jumps around a little bit, particularly as it picks different characters to follow, but it isn't too disruptive.

The story does an amazing job of still moving the narrative forward, though it does stall out a few times on Saori.  Otherwise, it represents the confusion of what is "normal" compared to what "feels right".  One is left feeling a little wanting by the end, however, though still with a sense that most of the characters have figured themselves out at least a little.

7/10

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Characters

The story and characters are closely linked, and once you're able to distinguish the characters from one another (I swear it took me two or three episodes to tell Shuichi and Yoshino apart...and one episode to realize they weren't twins).

The overall story follows Shuichi Nitori, who was born a boy but feels more comfortable in girl's clothes.  This, of course, goes even further into gender dysphoria as the kid starts wishing to be a girl; it's not just the clothes, but also likes being called "cute".

Another character who goes through gender dysphoria is Yoshino Takatsuki...who (sadly) starts to develop feelings for Shuichi "a little too late".  There are a lot of struggles with this one on wearing a boy's uniform and wanting to be a boy; hating girl's clothes, which includes bras, and enjoying sports (things which would have labeled Yoshino as a "tomboy").

Then...we come to Saori Chiba.  The most obnoxious, gaslighting, "oh woe is me, I'm always the victim" annoyance you'll quickly wish would get less screen time than she does.  She's rude, has nasty personality, and blames everyone else but herself for her situation.
There was one point where she dramatically stomped off from her group of friends while declaring "I don't have any friends!"...not meaning that she was ditching them, but that she didn't feel like they were her friends or something...I don't know; I would have happily traded with her when I was that age if I had the few good friends who wanted to hang around her.

...and so of course, a good chunk of the middle of the anime seems more dedicated to this dramatic, nasty creature.

Thankfully, it is somewhat balanced out by Chizuru, aka "Chi", and her high-energy antics around Saori and the others (although her friend, Momo, is just as obnoxious on screen as Saori; perhaps even more obnoxious because she has a closed mind as well).

Its biggest fault is often introducing a character and expecting the viewer to know who they are.  Many of the adults and older characters are introduced this way, and it's very confusing.

The characters certainly carry the anime and work in tandem with the plot.  They do a good job of voicing the inner thoughts and confusion of people attempting to make sense of the body dysphoria they feel; the characters want to feel like themselves, but are often limited by a close-minded society.

Each character has their own personality, which makes it an issue with the animation that it's so difficult to tell some of them apart.  Names are also thrown around very quickly and interchanging between first names and surnames that it might take a couple episodes before the viewer can match the face with the proper name.

There are also a couple characters who feel like they never really completed their "arc", or their development; and a couple who just randomly pop up here and there and the anime seems to expect the viewer to know/remember who they are.  For those reasons, I'll be giving this a 6.5/10.

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Sound and Animation

So, we all know what it means that I have a separate section for this.  Let's start with the sound.

The opening and ending songs are beautiful, and honestly make up the majority of the score I gave it for this category...because the voice acting feels flat (minus Chi's VA, who did an excellent job of keeping the audience awake during some of the duller moments).

I was honestly unable to tell, from voice alone, who was speaking at any given time if they were not featured on the screen.  A couple voices were distinguished (such as Chi, who is very upbeat, and Seya whose voice got a bit deeper due to his character hitting puberty)...but aside from them and maybe another character or two, it was hard to tell them apart by voice.

Emotions, as well.  Laughing and crying characters sounded awkward as all heck (especially the occasional times when a character cried) to the point where I was uncomfortable listening to it.  It doesn't take much to get me to cry, particularly if another character is crying...but even though I very much understood the confusion in body dysphoria, the voices did nothing to help the viewer connect with the character; it was all very flat.

Opening and ending songs were beautiful, but the voice acting was lackluster and aids in giving this anime a "sleepy" feel.  5/10

Onto the animation!  The animation is...strange.

Everything is sort of pastel-washed, particularly the background.  Most, if not all, of the backgrounds have a white boarder around it (particularly in the corners) which makes it difficult to tell when there is actually a flasback scene.  Not that there are many flashbacks used in the anime, but it gives it a dream-like effect which I felt hurt the anime a bit.

The reason being is because it gave a disconnect between the serious topics it touched upon and the viewer...especially during the more "high tension" moments.  I suppose I can sort of understand the "dream-like" appearance, since dissociation is common with dysphoria, but in this case it caused the characters to often blend in with the background to the point where sometimes I couldn't tell where the focal point was (particularly when characters had to wear their white uniforms).

A few parts of the animation are also stop-motion or Virtual Novel in nature.  At first, I thought the video was stuttering, but then realized it was supposed to be like that.  For example, one character was talking with his mother while walking on an overpass, and it sort of jumped at various moments to them getting farther away from the camera instead of a fluid motion.

This was jarring to me whenever it occurred (and in fact, it first occurs within moments into the first episode with that Visual Novel-esque motion).

Oh, and we can't forget how so many of the characters look the same.  This could be because I have face blindness, but the last time I had this much trouble telling characters apart was when I watched Den-Noh Coil...and this was somehow even worse in that department.

A lot of questionable decisions were made in regards to the animation; from characters blending into the background, to a dream-like quality of the art, characters who look similar, and occasional visual novel type awkward/jerking movements of the characters.  4/10

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Overall

This is a hidden gem, but it's not as polished as it could have been.  Certainly it does a great job of expressing the confusion of people with body dysphoria, as well as how society views and treats them.  It even touches on the fact that boys are held to a different standard when it comes to things like cross-dressing and being trans; it's much easier for girls to wear boy's clothes than for a boy to wear a skirt.

That said, it also doesn't really show how Shuichi deals with the backlash because all we get is to see a sort of blank look whenever sad things happen.  There's a lot of narration since the facial expressions don't range very far (yet another kick to the animation), and the anime spends an ungodly amount of time on their first play...as well as Saori.

Despite the narration, there sometimes isn't enough narration as it becomes difficult at times to really connect and understand the characters.  We're privy to Shuichi's thoughts...and sometimes Yoshino's...but past that we don't get much insight into the others.  So when they do or say something, it might confuse the viewers.

It also doesn't really feel "complete" by the end.  A few things are resolved, but not everything. 

Though this is an excellent unpolished gem of coming of age while dealing with body/gender dysphoria, it isn't without its issues...and probably within a day or two will be forgotten among the piles upon piles of other 11-13 episode cours which are watched and then set aside to collect dust.

It might have some re-watchable value in going back to the first couple episodes once you are able to tell everyone apart, but most people probably will only want to watch it once and then will be done with it; forgetting all but perhaps the premise...and the dream-like animation. 

Still, I feel it deserves more than a 6.5; I'll give it a 7 out of 10 since it's still very much worth the watch, particularly for fans of the genre or perhaps people who want to confirm their own feelings/experiences with body dysphoria.

7/10 story
4/10 animation
5/10 sound
6.5/10 characters
7/10 overall
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Garethp's avatar
Jan 29, 2011

Wandering Son is a strange anime, and I'm not sure if the manga was better or what, but I'm honestly surprised this became an anime. It lacks suspense, it lacks an interesting plot, it lacks depth. In short, it lacks all of the main features that make you want to keep watching the anime.

Story 2/10

The story (as of writing this, I've watched three episodes, and I'm dropping it) is sparse. There's a guy that wants to be a girl, his friends help him cross dress and... well... that's it. With some humour, it could have been done right. With some interesting characters it could have been better. However, it doesn't have those. In the first three episodes, nothing notable has happened.

Animation 5/10

The actual quality of the animation isn't too bad, it's smooth, the people look real, the backgrounds don't break the scene. However, going with the blandness of everything else, the colours used are very dull, pastel colours. They don't catch your eye, they don't make you feel excited. The way the characters are drawn, and the colours used highlight the fact that this anime isn't at all interesting

Sound 7/10

It may have come across that I don't particularly like this anime. One thing I can't fault it for is it's sound. The sound scape isn't interesting, nor are the voice actors, but it fits in well with the feeling of the anime. It suits the anime. The music doesn't stand out, it doesn't get the blood pumping, but it supports the scene well. Which is tough considering how poor the anime is.

Characters 2/10

As I said, the characters are bland. The main protagonist, if you can even call him that, is shy and looks like he belongs in the background. He doesn't speak up, and the only reason he's not a supporting character is because he wants to be a girl. The other characters are basically just your average highschool people.

There's only one person that's actually vaguely interesting, and as the other characters mention it's because she's very unusual. In fact, that character is probably the only reason I even watched so much, simply because it brought a little life to the anime. Without her, the entire cast could have been picked out of the most generic background characters of all anime.

Overall 4/10

Why 4/10? It's mostly the sound, and how well it does to fit into the anime, and me trying not to be too harsh, because it's obvious that this anime is not main stream. It's not interesting (by design) and it's not meant to be enjoyed by most people. Possibly I'm not the right person to be writing this review because I'm not the shows target audience, but that's the only reason I'm not rating it a 2.

In case I've left any doubt, this anime is entirely hinging on the social aspects of a guy wanting to be a girl. Everything in this anime seems deliberately boring. If you can relate to the main character, you might enjoy it. However, if you're looking for an anime that's interesting, this is not it

2/10 story
5/10 animation
7/10 sound
2/10 characters
4/10 overall
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eaper's avatar
Apr 1, 2011

I find this review somewhat difficult to write. Starting out with this series, I couldn't keep the characters straight and found myself finding it difficult to keep interest in, but, to an extent, this series got better as it went on. The story and characters were interesting, but, being a series focussing on topics that I feel very far removed from, I simply couldn't relate. As the story progresses, it brings about more relatable events and characters, which I supposed made the series slightly more engauging and helped me keep up with it. The story is a good one, but, as I have said, the topic is just too far away for many people, especially people like myself, to get too engauged in. The art style and animation in this series is fairly unique, but nothing overly intriging. The opening and ending are very enjoyable, and the music in the series is more or less acceptable. If you have an interest in people with gender confusion, or go through that yourself, it would definitely be worth looking into. Beyond that, I couldn't say I would really recommend it to anyone.

?/10 story
?/10 animation
?/10 sound
?/10 characters
6/10 overall
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